Friday, December 31, 2010

2011 UFO Challenge!

Judy over at Patchwork Times is having a 2011 UFO Challenge, and since I have a (gigantic) number of those (see the sidebar), I thought I'd join in -- see if I can whittle down any of my stack. The idea is to do one (or two) per month so we feel focused and not overwhelmed by our UFOs. Well, at least that's my reason for joining. So here's my list!

1. January -- This is Amanda Jean's nine-patch quilt-along from 2009 -- round 2. I did finish round 1 last year. It's half quilted. It was supposed to be a Christmas gift this year. A little late, so I have to finish it in the first week or so.

Also in January I would like to bind this quilt. I'm not showing you the whole thing, but I would like to point out that it is all quilted and already on my bed. So, yeah, it needs some binding.

2. February -- Elizabeth Hartman's Paintbox quilt-along. I did a LOT of QALs this last year and need to finish them up -- to make room for the other ones I won't be able to stop myself from starting in 2011. :) Know thyself, people.
Old Red Barn Co very first QAL -- probably a 2009 quilt also. Just needs binding. I obviously do not like making binding.

3. March -- Pinwheel Sampler from P.S. I Quilt. Rachel finished hers, and she even had a baby this year. What's my excuse?

Also for March I need to bind this quilt. I believe I started it 6 or 7 years ago. It was before we moved into this house, and that was 5 1/2 years ago.

4: April -- ORB QAL #4. This one was so involved and intricate. I finally trimmed all the string squares last week. I'm going to skip the circle cutting so I can finish it sometime before I die. I love the intricate ones, but they sit around too long around here. Not enough stamina I guess.

Also for April I need to bind this one. It's from Cathy's Charmed Whirligig QAL.

5. May -- Also from before we bought this house. This one is from Hopskotch Quilting by Peggy Waltman. (I was trying to link her website, but it must be gone now.) I got a little overambitious about the quilting -- as if the piecing wasn't enough, right?

Also for May I need to finish Amanda Jean's Star QAL. I may have started this in 2008 when I first started blogging. Maybe not till 2009.

6. June -- I bought a half-yard pack of Nicey Jane @ the Dallas Quilt Show earlier this year. This is such an easy pattern -- brick road-ish. WHAT is the deal with me? I get all these quilts to be in rows, and then I just don't want to sew the rows together. Okay. No more self-reproach. That's why I'm doing this -- to overcome my quilting weaknesses. ;)

Also for June is this lovely stacked coins quilt from 2009. I decided it would be gorgeous with some organic line quilting. Now, I'm not wrong about that, but I think the gorgeous factor would be upped if I finished it. Yeah, I'm sure.

7. July -- I made this modified bento box patterned after one that Ashley made. I made the quilt top so fast, and now it has sat around for about a year. I absolutely love it, so I'm hoping to finish and use it. Only one for July, because I was starting to get overwhelmed as I was making this list.

8. August -- I call this The Beautiful Briny (Bedknobs and Broomsticks). I saw one that Nettie made, and I just fell in love with it. Too many girly ones around here, and I have 5 boys. They need it, because they're tired of all the pink flowery quilts.

9. September -- Denim Stars -- also started before we bought the house -- actually to flimsy stage before then. I like it, but I'm a little daunted by the denim. Just gotta finish it.

10. October -- Because of all the applique, this one has taken me a while. I finished the applique earlier this year and then had to set it aside. This is also one that I started way before we moved into the house. The hard part's done, right?

11. November -- This one is just from a bunch of pink scraps from a friend who helped me get into quilting so much. She let me go through her HUGE stash and pick what I wanted. It was a great help at the time -- she did that for me a lot. I didn't have money for fabric then, but I truly loved quilting. Anyway, I made it SO HUGE. It's still pretty big, but I did take a bunch of squares off of it at one point. I made 2 baby quilts with what I removed.

12. December -- I love Judy Martin's quilts. She has such an interesting way of looking at blocks and using colors. I adapted a smaller version of this quilt to make a twin size. I absolutely love it. I made the top in 2 months of working on nothing else for 2 hours a day while my little ones napped. This was also before we bought the house. I think it was maybe 7 or 8 years ago. I didn't have a machine that could quilt until two years ago, so I wasn't able to finish as many of my quilt tops as quickly as I wanted to. Some I just let sit until I could machine quilt them. This one just kept getting pushed to the bottom of the pile, but I LOVE it.

I do hope to finish other quilts throughout the year besides these, but this would be an AMAZING start to chopping down my list. Thanks, Judy, for getting us focused!

5 comments:

Look at you-it all seems managable the way you have it all planned out. I know you are busy though, so pretty realistic. I love the Beautiful Briny, I have some of those fabrics. I totally don't recognize many Christmas fabrics, so perhaps I have amnesia or most are yours. Is the plaid one the one you sewed through your finger on? It seems like it was, but I may be remembering wrong.

The paintbox quilt is going to be awesome, can't wait to see that one. You should teach one of the kids how to bind! The stacked coin quilt would drive me bonkers, but it will be stunning when it is finished, it's the finishing. I am much happier with my denim quilt being hand quilted with yarn it was really fast and the overall effect looks great-I think it's somewhere in my archives. Looks like you've got a busy year ahead!